Honoring Your Word

There is very little in this world that you can control. You cannot control other people, you can’t control what others think of you, you can’t control what decisions other people make and you can’t control how other people think. You can, however, control what you choose to say and you should choose your words very carefully.

When you tell someone that you are going to do something, you should follow-through and do that thing unless some outrageous emergency prevents you from doing so. And, if something urgent comes up, you should immediately let those who are depending on you know that you will not be able to come through with what you said you were going to.

When you repeatedly say you are going to do this or that, but you rarely follow-through, people will learn that they can’t really trust you and you will lose their respect.

Sometimes, people say they will do things because they don’t want to disappoint others by saying they can’t do it or that they don’t want to do it. However, when that person turns around and doesn’t actually do what he or she said they were going to do, that is much more disappointing to the person they promised it to. The person would rather just be told he or she doesn’t plan to do it and that way, the person could find someone else to ask.

Your word is about all you have that you can really count on. Make sure others can count on you, too.